Annotation

1. Annotation

2. Annotation • Annotation is one way to slow down when reading difficult text so that you can understand it better • Annotation includes underlining, highlighting, circling drawing arrows, writing in the margins and asking questions you may have • This is helpful because you can go back to each page and scan for your notes when rereading later • Things you can annotate: • labeling and interpreting literary devices (similes, metaphors) • Labeling and explaining writers’ elements of style (tone, language, pace) • Labeling main ideas, supportive details, or evidence • Writing down questions or connections you come up with while reading

3. Beginning to Annotate • When you are reading and annotating you may find that you read slower. That’s good because you are making sure that you understand before you read the next part. • After you annotate for a while you will find a way that works best for you.

4. What you should annotate • Vocabulary—define words or difficult language • Figures of Speech: Similes, Metaphors, Puns, etc. • Make connections to other parts of the book. • • Make connections to other visual and graphic material, such as movies; news events; and books, stories, plays, poems, and so on that you have read. • For visual connections, include the artwork, photo, or drawing in the margin (don’t just describe it).

5. More things you can annotate • Rewrite, paraphrase, or summarize a particularly difficult part of the text. • Make connections to your life. • Give an analysis of what is happening in the text. • Do research on the Internet to see what others are saying about the text.

6. What is not annotation • Do not ONLY underline or highlight. • Do not ONLY summarize the chapter • You must use a combination of annotation techniques to really be annotating